Light as an instrument of time travel

[ecoli]

Does this make sense to anyone?

 

A man traveling faster the speed of light reaches a distant planet. Because of his speed, he reaches his destination before the light from his starting point, thus it appears that he has reached his destination before he arrived, and traveled back in time.

[Sayonara]

Even assuming he could go faster than light (which he can't do), he wouldn't arrive before he left.

 

A speed > C must be positive, as must the distance travelled in this instance. The result is that the time taken for the journey will be a positive value since t = D/S.

[swansont]

 

A man traveling faster the speed of light

 

You cannot draw a valid conclusion from an invalid premise.

[Stumblebum]

Well one things for sure....if you're going to use light as an instrument of travel then you won't be going any faster than it.

[ecoli]

You cannot draw a valid conclusion from an invalid premise.

 

It's only a theortical circumstance. Of, course he couldn't actually travel at that speed. Also, he wouldn't actually be in the past, only appear to be. In that case could it be possible, as a theoretical situation.

[5614]

he would appear (or seem) to be 'ahead' of his time or to have travelled in time, when we really he hasnt.

 

although, as all have said, this is impossible.

[swansont]

It's only a theortical circumstance. Of, course he couldn't actually travel at that speed. Also, he wouldn't actually be in the past, only appear to be. In that case could it be possible, as a theoretical situation.

 

No, it really isn't. The theory doesn't address that circumstance. There is no valid answer.

 

It's no different than asking, "If I build a perpetual motion machine, what color would it be?"